A number of buildings in Duncan’s downtown core were spray painted with hateful and derogatory messages sometime during the evening of June 14.
The Duncan post office on Ingram Street, the building across the street from the post office housing Mann’s Prescription Guardian Pharmacy and Mountainview Dental, the Telus building on Canada Avenue, and the Duncan Garage Cafe & Bakery on Duncan Street were among the victims of the spray painter(s).
Casey Thompson, one of the owners of the Duncan Garage, said workers discovered the nasty messages on the building when they arrived for work Sunday morning.
“It was an unfortunate surprise for all of us,” he said. “I’ve seen graffiti downtown before, but nothing like this. We had painters brought in right away and we had those messages covered up by 10 a.m. Sunday morning.”
Pharmacist Jason Czettisch, owner of Mann’s Pharmacy, said he was also surprised by the graffiti and the disturbing messages they contained.
“I’ve seen some graffiti around here in the past, but nothing like that,” he said, echoing Thompson's statements. “It’s not something I want on the wall of the pharmacy so I notified the landlord right away and he cleaned it up pretty quick.”
Duncan Mayor Michelle Staples said the kind of hateful messages that the graffiti contained have no place in the city.
She said she’s sorry that someone thought there was space in the community for such disgusting and disgraceful statements.
“Let’s be clear, this does not represent who we are or what we stand for,” Staples said. “We stand for respect, for dignity and for each other. To those trying to spread fear or division, you will not win. Love, truth and community are louder and we will keep showing up for each other with courage and compassion. The RCMP are looking into this.”
The North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP said that, with assistance from the City of Duncan’s bylaw services, the graffiti is being removed as soon as possible.
“We take incidents involving hate-motivated messaging seriously,” said Cpl. James Grandy, BC RCMP spokesperson.
“Acts like this have no place in our communities, and we’re working to identify whoever is responsible.”
Police are continuing to investigate and are asking anyone who witnessed suspicious activity in the downtown core overnight on June 13 or June 14, or who has dash camera or surveillance footage, to please contact the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP.
Thea Hitchcock, executive director of the Downtown Duncan BIA, acknowledged that the downtown core is not new to graffiti, but not to this extent with hate messages singling out a number of groups in the community.
She said the DDBIA has just recently introduced its new Vandalism Recovery Grant Program, a financial support initiative aimed at helping businesses recover from the damaging effects of vandalism.
The grant offers up to $1,000 per incident to assist with out-of-pocket costs related to deliberate property damage, including broken windows, graffiti removal, or damaged signage.
"We encourage these businesses who were hit with the graffiti to apply for the grant," Hitchcock said.
